Olivia

Hi, so, this is a very widely peddled misinformation now (and this article unfortunately is feeding it further because search AI pulls from it), but Kikoru is NOT 16 years old.

Everyone misreads/misremembers the Chapter 4 panel saying she was 16 when it was saying she GRADUATED college at 16! Her actual age was never given, and only 3 characters in this series have their ages listed (Kafka, Mina, and Reno).

HOWEVER, we already could infer that she is no younger than 18 because this series follows irl Japanese military rules VERY closely. Even the max enlistment age being raised to 32 was an actual event that occurred in October 2018. HOWEVER, the minimum age was never lowered to 16, and there is no mention of such in canon. Therefore, Kikoru cannot possibly be younger than 18.

Viz also mistranslated "underage" as "minor" for the alcohol scene where Kikoru laments not being able to drink. Drinking age in Japan is age 20, so all that meant was that she is younger than 20 but older than 18 as she is old enough to enlist. And as an aside, the anime also showed Reno drinking soda rather than beer like everyone else besides Kikoru.

However, we finally got a solid implicit age with the light novel's release. Kikoru was stated there to be the youngest recruit. Given how Reno is born in April while Kikoru is born in September, that would mean she is indeed 18 like Reno and 5 months younger than him.

I don't know if any of the authors still check here, but if one of you sees this comment, I hope you can correct that part of the article. I can even provide my sources if needed. Thank you!